Kapur drops to 11th, Jeev 26th in KLM Open

HILVERSUM - Shiv Kapur and Jeev Milkha Singh faltered on the final day Sunday and ended way down tied 11th and tied 26th as Martin Kaymer won the KLM Open with a ruthless display of precision golf.

Kaymer, who was playing his first event since winning the US PGA Championship, totalled 14 under par for the week as he won by four strokes.

Kapur, who was in contention even after three rounds, shot a one-over 71, as did Jeev and dropped down. Jeev had been in the top five on the first two days.

Kapur had four bogeys and three birdies, while Jeev had two bogeys and one birdie on the final day.

After birdieing the last two holes of his third round to lead by one, Kaymer quickly extended the lead over playing partners Fabrizio Zanotti and Christian Nilsson to three.

Paraguayan Zanotti and Swede Nilsson both dropped a shot at the first, and when the 25 year old birdied the second, Kaymer began to dominate the proceedings.

An unerring display of accuracy saw him make 17 greens in regulation - his display leaving the rest of the field needing something special to mount a challenge that never seriously materialised.

Zanotti and Nilsson shared second on 10-under, while Open Championship winner Louis Oosthuizen, who made the cut on the mark, moved through the field with a 65 to join David Horsey, Jose Manuel Lara and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño to share the fourth on

nine-under.

Kaymer’s triumph was the fifth victory in a row by a member of Europe’s Ryder Cup Team.

Kaymer’s second successive victory takes him almost euros 500,000 clear of Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell - Europe’s other current major champion - at the top of The Race to Dubai.

He also joins another cup teammate, Miguel Angel Jiménez, as a three-time winner this season.

Kaymer’s triumph at Whistling Straits last month started the amazing run of success by Colin Montgomerie’s men.

Peter Hanson won a week later at the Czech Open, then Edoardo Molinari in the Johnnie Walker Championship and Jiménez last week at the Omega European Masters.

Kaymer’s only mistake on the final day was a bogey at the short tenth, but he had gone to the turn at 33 to be three clear and a birdie two holes later widened the gap again.

Zanotti and Nilsson produced performances that will ensure they keep their European Tour cards for the next season, having gone into the event precariously placed on The Race to Dubai.

Francesco Molinari and Ross Fisher were the other two Ryder Cup players in the field and they finished eighth and 11th respectively.